Automatic control agricultural machine



Oct. '11, 1949. F. BONCOMPAIN AUTOMATIC CONTROL AGRICULTURAL MACHINEFiled July 21, 1945 my By yfld fir M Patented Oct. 11, 1949AUTQMATICTGONTROIBAGRICULTURAL MACHINE v f .FranccisaB ncompain,Saint-OuenLFmnceL as- Signl',' bf directand mesne assignments; to: 1---1 '='Etablisscmcnts'-Lahinal, Saint-011cm; -France, =a--society-wtFranca and SEEM-A: S's Aa societe Y xdmxploitation: deaBrevetsaide-s Machines aAgricoleS-c ,Romcntu-fiwitzerland, ta 1 Swissacompany jApplication July,\21,'j1945, Serial No; 606,397

' t In France; July*24,19 44 (Cl. WI -+135);

1;:15 Claims. 1

R'The presentinventionrelates-te-a-utomatic controt-agricultural thisexpressiom-including also: horit-icultural-i -mach-inesandmore--=especlally those-used for thecultivation of linear-planta tions:-

There"exisvmachinesi of this klnd-adapted-to' haveg theiriworking1;()'O1S';C18fleQted: "Or withdrawn whena contact 'element mounted aheadof the toolcomes to touch one of thepla-nts of the line that is beingcultivated." In such machin the contact element ,in,q1 estion,, is,displaced by the. resistanceof the plantithatyit has touched,',and thisdisplacement causes the tool tobe tdefle'ctedl". But these machines.,havetthe. drawback t at," in order. to obeleftintact, a .plantimustbecapable oily-resistin the. thrust..,of the. contact ielement tawsufficientc degree.,. Otherwise land thisocr curs ,frequently), the,plant is destroyed;

Thie chief.v object oittheapresent, invention to, provide a machine; ofthe type above refe red to, which avoids this drawback.

Other. objectsof therinVentiDmW-iIL result from: the-%fQ110W ng -I'de34i 6 3' 01 91 1911 of as ome sperfl cific embodimfintsthereon.twitharetercnceito the accompanying drawings, git/en merelygby'way of; example, and in which:

Fig, 1 is .a diagrammatical viplan-l view-g of jam automaticvcontrolagricultural machinemade a cording. to theainventiom,

FigaZ, and-"3 7 are ediagrammatical;Views yrelatve. m til-modifications;

: Fig.7 4 is. a separate vi w n: ailargernscaleoflan ele tric contactelementor, brush;

:1 l :the;examples;;sh0wn,i it rhassbeenxsupnosedi that ,the; machinein; question; is,;;a weeding Q;ma:.\, chineinc1 ud in a normal tractor:a

According tove the -;:em:bo dime,nt; illustrated by Fi 1,: a frame -.2 spported at .the-rear-hyl m ablerwheel-s 3- and securedg-atythe front vtothe.- tractor,- isapiovidfid; withthe -;followingz elementst;

a" .On: th ne handlgtwos tcc-lsl adapted. to plough earth along twolines suificientlynspaced ap rt from. each, other fqrzlea in iintact "arstrip of lancl of;- suclra width; that when theytoola avork on, eitherside f ,a rownof {plants A, saidfplantsareinot s yed b saidtocls; and;so.

A b; n. the other .han twoibrushesjt tdisnosedi horizontally ahead o toos '4:.a. d;at1a:le&e1lpreh erahly ad ustab e) such that they, caniccm;-i. o-: contact with plants A inrztheirmresent state ofiz growth; 1;;-

- These brushes arev disposedg insuchlmamler that: if. th mach neis-.sup oseshtc be-ainzpositicnawitlr to beacultivatedisaid brushesarealso locatedl on either-sideofisaid-line;

: Brushes :5 are preferably ccnstituteehby fl'exiblemetal-blacles fixed:at the front, with: th L desired insulation;to ,i r'ame--2; andconverging-toward therear so-that their rear-ends are-at a distance fromtact withthe row otplants.

- Pref erably,- each-- brush: 5 :(Fig: 4-)-*is.constituted by ametallicperforatedsheath containing a tex-- tileawick kept m'OiSt-With aconducting salt solu-' tion was to-ensure-a:-g00d'ele0tric contact withplants A.

Eachof these brushesds connected-With one of the terminals of avsourceot current 6 the other terminal of which: is connected tc-the input endoft-(the controliicir'cuit of a relay 'l; a'Fheoutputend of this controlcircuit isgroundedatlfl, foinin stance eby being connected to frame 2:1Finallypthe:controlled circuits ot= the two re-- lays.aretconnected tomeans:for displacing frame 2 toward-fthe lef-t' :when -therelay lconnected'to brushiarmlfifor-displacing :-frame==2 toward-the rightthe-.control circuit thereofgis cl'osed through the earth.- and a; plantthat :has come into w contact withsthercorresponding brush 53- :Suclrmeans "may for instance-, 'b'e -constituted by a particular fixation offrame 2 to tractor- I In the embodiment. shownbythedrawing, frame 2Eriszprovided at :the front with screwthreaded sleevesas inameshswithahorizontal screw 1 0 earsaid re ys] 'Qperationaofvthis :devica resultsfrom the pre--- cedingizexplanationsio It will ibennd rgtood at;

evenyife-the .-.tracton issnet: piloted with recision, tools 4 leavestherows of plantsH-A intact-.-

1 Accordingoto another feature-of the invention; in: order; to. destroy:parasitical== plants" such" asthistlazwhiclngrow monehrapidly: thancultivated plants, other contact means, located higher than brushes; :59are provicled for-preven-ting -the to 015 from :being deflected whensaid :brushe 5 come intozcontact withzvsuch parasiticalplants:

trated by Fig. 2, in which the second contact means consist of brushesI4 analogous to brushes 5 but located at a higher level than them and alittle ahead thereof.

Brushes 5 and I4 cooperate with electrical means, including at least onethyratron I3 with its grid bias battery, and a relay I6 energized by thecurrent flowing through th anodic circuit of said thyratron andoperating a contact I8 which controls the tools, this contact I8 beinginserted between the ground and battery 6 and acting to control theworking of motor II. The self-induction of relay I6 is adapted to thecapacity of a condenser I! so as to form an oscillatory circuit,inserted in the anodic circuit of thyratron I3, which transforms thedirect current supplied by a generator 22 into a current oscillatingbetween zero and a constant maximum. Thus, despite the fact thatthyratron I3 is fed from generator 22, it is possible to have thedischarge stopped on the first zero after disappearance of the controlgrid bias. The frequency of circuit I6lI should be high enough formaking negligible the time interval between two successive zeros of thedischarge pulsatory current.

I9 is the grid bias adjustin resistance, 20 a potential drop resistance,2! a grid protection resistance, and 23 is a thyratron filament heatintransformer.

With such an arrangement, when one of the brushes 5 is brought intocontact with a plant A, the grid is given a positive bias through theresistances of said plant and of the ground. Contact I8 is closed andenergizes relay I to bring motor I I into play for withdrawing the toolfrom the path passing through plant A.

On the contrary, when one of the brushes I4 touches a plant before thecorresponding brush 5, the last mentioned brush has no action on relayI8 which remains open and the plant is destroyed by the tool 4 of themachine.

In the embodiment of Fig. 2, contact elements 5 and I4 are constitutedby horizontal conductors extending transversely to the direction ofmovement of the machine so as to scan the spaces between successiveplants A (which are not necessarily disposed in longitudinal rows). Ofcourse, tools 4 (which are not shown on Fig, 2) are then preferablyadapted to have a zone of action of a width, that is to sa of adimension in the transverse direction, corresponding to the transverselengths of conductors 5 and I4, so that whenever conductor I4 comes intocontact with a parasitical plant, said plant is subsequentl destroyed bya tool.

In the modification of Fig. 3, contact elements 5 are given a shape, incross section, corresponding to the envelope of the contours of a plantA at various times of its growth, so that the working of a machine madefor instance according to the embodiment of Fig. 1 remains satisfactorywhatever be the degree of growth of the plants.

In the embodiments above described, it has been assumed that theelectric circuits which control the operation of the tool are closedthrough the plant and the earth, but of course this is not a, necessarycondition, as this closing of the circuit could take place through theplant alone, by making use of two contact elements respectivelyconnected to the terminals of the source of current.

It is also pointed out that the machin could as well be designed in suchmanner that when a plant is touched by the contact element, it isdestroyed, instead of being respected, as supposed 4 in the precedingdescription, the plants that are not touched by the contact elementsbeing then respected.

Switch means may be provided for causing a machine to work eitheraccordin to this last mentioned way of operating or according to thatinitially described, in which the plants touched by the contact elementsare respected by the tools.

In a general manner, while I have, in the above description, disclosedwhat I deem to be practical and efiicient embodiments of the presentinvention, it should be well understood that I do not wish to be limitedthereto as there might be changes made in the arrangement, dispositionand form of the parts without departing from the principle of thepresent invention as comprehended within the scope of the appendedclaims.

What I claim is:

1. An agricultural machine which comprises. in combination, a frameadapted to be moved along the surface to be cultivated, at least onetool carried by said frame, electrical means for controlling said tool,an electric circuit for energizing said means, and at least one electriccontact element carried by said frame ahead of said tool adapted tocooperate with a plant present on its path of travel for inserting saidplant in said circuit so as to close it through the plant.

2. An agricultural machine which comprises, in combination, a tractor, aframe coupled to said tractor so as to be driven by it, two toolscarried by said frame on either side of the longitudinal middle planethereof, motor means for displacing said frame transversely with respectto said tractor in one direction or the other, two distinct electricalmeans for operating said motor means in opposed directions respectively,an electric circuit for energizing each of said electrical means, and acontact element carried by said frame ahead of each of said toolsadapted to cooperate with a plant present on its path of travel forinserting said plant in one of said circuits, respectively so as toclose it through the plant.

3. An agricultural machine which comprises, in combination, a frameadapted to be moved along the surface to be cultivated, at least onetool carried by said frame, electrical means for controlling said tool,an electric circuit for en ergizing said means, at least one electriccontact element carried by said frame ahead of said tool adapted tocooperate with a plant present on its path of travel for inserting saidplant in said circuit so as to close it, at least one other electriccontact element adapted to cooperate with a plant present on its path oftravel, said second mentioned contact element being carried by saidframe above said first mentioned contact element, and means, operativeby said second mentioned contact element in response to the meetingthereof with a plant, for neutralizing the efiect of the meeting of saidfirst mentioned contact element with said plant.

4. An agricultural machine which comprises, in combination, a frameadapted to be moved along the surface to be cultivated, at least onetool carried by said frame, electrical means for controlling said tool,an electric circuit for energizing said means, at least one electriccontact element carried by said frame ahead of said tool adapted tocooperate with a plant present on its path of travel for inserting saiplant in said circuit so as to close it through the plant, at least oneother electric contact element adapted to establish electric contactwith a plant present on its path of travel, said second mentionedcontact element being carried by said frame slightly ahead of said firstmentioned contact element and above it, and electrical means, includinga circuit adapted to be closed by said second mentioned contact elementthrough a plant in contact with said element, for neutralizing theeffect of the meeting of said first mentioned contact element with saidplant.

5. A machine according to claim 1 in which said contact element includesa metallic support, and a wick impregnated with an electricityconducting liquid carried by said support so as to be able freely tocontact plants lying in the path of travel of said contact element.

FRANCOIS BONCOMPAIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

